Beauty and the .EXE

Chapter Ten: Something There

The next morning, Jet was still tied up near the tree Eggman had left him on. The wolves had not found him but the cold night had weakened him. When he finally woke up, he saw Honey standing in front of him, only just finding him in the woods. She untied him from the ropes and took him back to her home which was under a fallen tree. There, Honey put Jet down on her bed and prepared some tea to help him get better. Honey helped him to drink, as he had become too cold to want to do anything, shivering to try and get his body head back to normal. Jet thanked her for her help. Meanwhile, back at the castle, Maddie was by Sonic's bedside, reciting lines from a book she once read.

"'Love can transpose to form and dignity. Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind and therefore...'"

"'And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind'," Sonic finished the sentence

"You know Shakespeare?" Maddie asked him

Sonic sat up with a grunt, "I had an expensive education."

"Actually, 'Romeo and Juliet's my favorite play."

Sonic groaned, falling back onto his pillow, "Why is that not a surprise?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Well, all that heartache and pining and..." Sonic shivered in disgust, "So many better things to read."

"Like what?"

Sonic put on a coat and took Maddie into the library.

"Well, there are a couple of things in here you could start with," Sonic said walking into the library.

As Maddie walked in, she marveled at the giant room filled with books. She had never seen so many in her life. The most she's seen are the small few that were in Pere Robert's little library in the village. Seeing Maddie's reaction, Sonic asked if she was alright. But she couldn't take her eyes off the thousands of books in the room.

"It's wonderful!" Maddie finally said

"Yes. I suppose it is," Sonic agreed, "Well, if you like it so much, then it's yours."

Maddie looked at Sonic in surprise. This had to have been the first time Sonic was actually kind to her. Sonic gave her a small smile and started to walk away.

"Have you really read every one of these books?" Maddie asked him, making Sonic turn back to her.

"What?" Sonic turned back to her, "Well, not all of them. Some of them are in Greek."

Maddie giggled, "Was that a joke? Are you making jokes now?"

Sonic hesitated for a moment before giving her a smug look, "Maybe."

Maddie chuckled as Sonic began to walk away. Watching Sonic walk away, Maddie couldn't help but smile at the now kind .EXE. Not before looking around the library and squeaking in excitement. She knew that, even if she were to stay here forever in place of her father, she'd never grow bored with all these books to read. Later that afternoon, Sonic and Maddie had both picked out books to read while eating their soup. And, instead of talking, they both just read. But they both couldn't help but glance at each other from time to time.

After lunch, the two had been outside, taking a stroll while Maddie read her book out loud. On the snowy grounds, the two would just walk while Sonic listened to Maddie read. But Sonic stopped when they walked over a bridge. He looked out to the frozen lake with white trees in the distance. He had seen it so many times and yet never admired the beauty of winter, even if it was June. And, as he didn't leave his castle much once he was cursed, he never took notice of the beauty around him.

Maddie stopped to take in the scenery too, almost seeming curious about what Sonic was seeing for the first time. But, as Sonic stopped, he asked if Maddie could continue the poem. So, Maddie continued to read as Sonic looked over the winter wonderland he had on this castle grounds. Maddie had been reading 'A Crystal Silence' by 'William Sharp'. And every word in that poem described what Sonic was seeing perfectly. It even described how Sonic was starting to feel. When the poem ended, the two just gazed at each other.

Later, once Maddie had dressed into something more appropriate for the weather, she helped to show Sonic how to not scare Philippe. Sonic had startled Philippe the first time he met Jet so Philippe was still a bit skittish. As Sonic tried to approach, Philippe made a sudden mood, startling Sonic slightly. Maddie helped by calming Philippe down before helping Sonic. She took his hand and gently put it on Philippe's back, showing both that they were harmless. Sonic looked over to Maddie who just smiled and left Sonic and Philippe to get acquainted properly.

'There's something sweet and almost kind. But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined and now he's dear and so unsure. I wonder why I didn't see it there before,'
Maddie sang out loud as she went up the stairs.

Taking some snow from the stairs, Maddie made it into a snowball and threw it at Sonic. Sonic looked up at Maddie who just laughed at her playful action. With a playful look of anger, Sonic scooped up a big ball of snow and threw it at Maddie, knocking her down. Sonic laughed to himself as he didn't mean to do that. But he finally felt happy. At dinner, neither of them read and just sat opposite each other.

'She glanced this way I thought I saw and when we touched, she didn't shudder at my glove. No, it can't be. I'll just ignore. But then she's never looked at me that way before,' Sonic said to himself

Sonic walked over with his bowl of soup and sat next to Maddie instead of being across the table from her. The two ate together while the castle staff worked to clean the castle up for the first time in years. Meanwhile, the next morning, Maddie watched from the ballroom window as Sonic walked and talked with Philippe.

'New, and a bit alarming. Who'd have ever thought that this could be?'

Later, she was in the library with Sonic grabbing a few books to dust off and read.

'True that he's no Prince Charming, but there's something in him That I simply didn't see.'

Sonic walked over with a stack of books. Maddie gave him two that she had picked from the shelf while the castle staff watched from the sidelines.

'Well, who'd have thought?' Rouge asked

'Well, bless my soul!' Cream explained

'Well, who'd have known?' Shadow asked

'Well, who indeed?' Tails said, 'And who'd have guessed they'd come together on their own!'

'It's so peculiar. Wait and see,' Cream told everyone

'We'll wait and see a few days more!' The four of them sang, 'There may be something there that wasn't there before.'

"And here's a thought..." Shadow said as they all started to leave the library, 'Perhaps there's something there that wasn't there before.'

"What, Mama?" Amy asked

'There may be something there that wasn't there before,' was all Cream replied.

"What is it? What's there?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

Amy turned away for a second before turning back to her mother, "Okay, I'm older!"

"Amy..." Cream laughed, "You are a one!"

Everyone left the two to read and bond on their own.